Description

This is sweet if you like torturous Vedauwoo routes. It is located near the center of the crag, an obvious small left facing dihedral split by two shelfs. Just right of Slot-a-saurus and left of Mud in Your Eye.

Stiff right off of the ground through a series of thin and somewhat slick hand jams. A deceptively tough entry into a shoulder width slot is likely to leave you gasping. Once inside the slot, recover a bit, stand on the shelf and tackle the next little puzzle, a seemingly holdless entry into another bodysized slot. The slot shortly dumps you onto another ledge with one final (but easier) puzzling body sized slot to enter.

Horizontal cracks on the left at the top provide a good place to set up an top rope anchor (a cordelette is nice), or set up anchor from various cracks and blocks further back to bring up the second. Very close to three stars, the only reason I could find to justify its omission from that category is the duration of the crux(s) and length of the climb. Still a must do route, and a tough and committing lead (partner said that its higher rated neighbor to the right would be an easier lead).

Protection

Cams from micro to #3 Camalot. Doubles in thin hands / hands wold be nice. If a toprope is to be set a few medium to large pieces will suffice.

I climbed both Lichen Lung and Mud in Your Eye last weekend, and thought that the guidebook ratings (5.10d and 5.11a) were correct. The nature of the climbing is quite different on the two routes, making a comparison more subjective than normal. If you're not used to chimneys, the entry move into the first slot on Lichen Lung could seem harder than 5.10d. Both climbs were high quality routes.

As for 8/16/09 there is only one quick link attached to the bolts at the top. They are bomber bolts, so we just rapped off of the one that had a quick link. It would be great of someone brought up three more to outfit these bolts for a more safe rappel.

Definitely thought this was harder and more technical than Mud in Your Eye. Awesome line that will test your technique of the awkwardness. I thought the first slot was pretty heady, a fall would not be advised. Great Route.